As a team that flourished under the guidance and legacy of Coach K, Duke is in a messy soup these days. Sure, Jon Scheyer has managed to retain every possible player from his roster last season, but you cannot simply ignore the void left behind by his starting 5– Cooper Flagg, Tyrese Proctor, Kon Knueppel, Sion James, and Khama Maluach. That’s a massive weight for the head coach. Just how massive? He had to tap into the transfer portal! But even then, the coach who seemed so close to penning history this past season is left grappling for a fix.
As much as Jon Scheyer would have loved to have Flagg back for another year, he was all in for the reigning NPOY to hop on his dreams. ” I think he’s got to take the next dream in his life and be the top pick in the NBA draft and start his professional career,” he’d say when the young talent still mulled over his decision. Flagg led his team in points, rebounds, assists, and steals, and needless to say, was the engine that took the Blue Devils to the Final Four.
Scheyer could have easily predicted the pain of his absence. But looking into the transfer portal? That’s not how Duke does it. The HC has relied on his No.1 recruiting class and the returnees to run the program. But this time, Scheyer took that step. Because, despite doing all of that right, his starting lineup looked nowhere close to solid. That’s when he found Cedric Coward from Washington State. “I think Blue is my colour,” the guard would post, too. Coward had verbally committed.
However, just when you thought things had gotten better, he sent a wave of uneasiness for the Blue Devil nation with what followed. “I will also be keeping my name in the NBA draft to continue testing the waters,” he further captioned. If that wasn’t a sting enough, analyst Jeff Goodman is here to rub salt on the wound, making that move seem a little too real.
“I think he will go in the first round, so I think he’ll get a guarantee. Every NBA exec that I’ve talked to feels like his back stop is probably the end of the first round,” he revealed on The Field of 68: After Dark.
Coward averaged 17.7 points, 7 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game in his final season with Washington State. He would also outshine his teammates with his career high performance of 30 points in a standout match against Northern Colorado in 2024. He even returned with an average of 22 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists against his former team, Eastern Washington and was crowned the 2024 West Coast Conference (WCC) Player of the Week.
Though his knee injury derailed much of his previous season, Coward showed up and showed out at the combine. The least possible scenario for Coward is to become the last player of the first round pick. And not beyond that. This could mean trouble for Jon Scheyer and Co., though he is once again supportive of Coward’s decision. The 6-foot-5 forward would bring in versatility and an ability to defend multiple positions for the Devils. So Goodman isn’t sugarcoating Duke’s situation right now.
“I think Duke feels probably the same way right now- that he’s likely to stay in the draft. Which means they got to figure something out because, I’ve said this before- I like their roster,” Goodman said. “Don’t get me wrong, I like it. It just doesn’t overwhelm me right now. And then you take Cedric Coward out of there, even less. So, they got some work to do. They got to find somebody else that can be an impact player.”
That’s been a common sentiment now. Though Scheyer has 5 core players — Isaiah Evans, Pat Ngongba, Maliq Brown, and Caleb Foster — returning, it isn’t exactly screaming elite just yet. “I feel like this is a weird class in the sense of which everybody is going to have to earn their keep,” analyst DeShaun Tate would remark on the Locked on podcast last month. Probably having Nate Ament would have made a massive difference for the Blue Devils, but the touted recruit would choose Tennessee over Duke’s storied legacy.
So the current hope the program is left with are the Boozer twins.
Cameron Boozer boasts an average of 22.3 points, 11.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 2.1 blocks per game through his senior high school year. His twin, Cayden, on the other hand, has put up, 12 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 7.6 assists per game.
Though the six-feet-six Cedric was a ray of hope for Jon, who was hoping to bank on the guard’s athleticism, Scheyer and staff have returned to square one. And it isn’t going to be easy. Especially after the likes of Cooper Flagg just graced the courts.
Jon Scheyer lists out what sets Cooper Flagg apart
Speaking of his star player head coach Jon Scheyer said, “He always competes, 100% effort, and I think that’s the separator. Obviously, you look at his athleticism, talent, size, and skill-it’s off the charts. But to me, it’s how he competes and who he is as a teammate.” Scoring an average of 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game, the AP Player of the Year has always been dedicated to basketball and his coach, Scheyer.
Needless to say, Cooper Flagg was a standout player at the Devils. This prodigy re-classed at the age of 17 and verbally committed before joining the Duke University to follow his passion. And who better than Scheyer to fuel the fire? Constantly pushing Flagg into giving some his finest on-court performances, Scheyer played a major role in shaping the superstar. And the coach’s enjoyed the journey, too.
“The very first thing I wanna say is how proud I am to coach these two guys next to me, in our entire team. I mean, it’s been a special ride that ended in a heartbreaking way,” the emotional HC referred to his two best players, Flagg and Proctor, in an interview after a gut-wrenching last-minute defeat during the Final Four. The two are all set to shake-up the NBA now, leaving Scheyer quite the task to take up for the upcoming season.
The post Duke’s Locker Room Turmoil Runs Deeper Than Losing Cooper Flagg as National Reporter Drops Tough Reality Check on Jon Scheyer appeared first on EssentiallySports.